In 2016,
China became the world’s biggest retail market — surpassing the United States. And
e-commerce in China is booming more than anywhere else in the world as
the boundary between online and offline retail becomes ever more
blurred.
Hangzhou’s long-established Century Mart supermarket chain launched a new brand — Century Mart Choice Membership Store — last month, offering
a new experience in shopping.
The 20,000-square-meter store is divided into sections: one quarter is allocated to dining, including one diner where you can eat with
freshly bought seafood over the counter, with a small fee for cooking.
Another social media buzz is an automated cooking area. Three vending machines offer packaged, unprocessed dishes.
They are ready to be taken home after being prepared in an automated cooker available to use for free. The cooker can also be bought for
1,198 yuan (US$180).
The try-and-buy store is operated by a Suzhou-based company specializing in community catering services. A staffer and a store
manager are assigned to help customers and maintain the equipment.This
is just one of the many specialty stores that the new Century Mart
accommodates. Leveraging support from other specialty retailers and
e-retailers, it has developed its own cosmetics store and a section
selling imported goods.
It also introduces other independent (e-)retailers, making it more of a mall than a single store.
Century Mart Choice has also transformed its checkout system. The traditional cashiers have been decreased to only three, with a very
small queue area.
Thirteen self-service cashier machines have been installed and they only accept bank cards, CenturyMart membership card and mobile payment.
Signboards promoting the Century Mart Choice app are everywhere. It is a scan and go check-out system similar to the one that WalMart
initiated in 2012. It allows you to scan an item with the app and pay
without waiting in line.
But Century Mart takes a more radical step by turning the app into an online retailer. Customers are able to check out without carrying any
goods and have them delivered to their home, or they can also buy them
directly from home. They can even order takeaways from the diners.
The app is developed by a local company “Flash Purchase” known for getting convenience stores “online” through a smart system combining
e-retailing and inventory management based on big data.
